Zürcher Nachrichten - Human-Robot Collaboration Takes Center Stage at Prestigious Logistics Award

STUTTGART, DE / ACCESS Newswire / June 30, 2026 / In warehouses and factories, much of the work that keeps goods moving is still measured in footsteps. Operators walk the same routes, push the same loads, and repeat the same transport tasks hour after hour. For years, automation has promised to remove that work, but often with a catch: complex projects, fixed infrastructure, long integrations, and systems that assume people should be designed out of the process.

At this year's IFOY AWARD, one of intralogistics' most respected technology prizes, the Industrial Truck of the Year award went to a different idea. The Mobile Robot Company, a young Danish robotics startup, won the 2026 title for the J1600 self-driving pallet jack, a robot designed not to replace the warehouse operator, but to work under the operator's direction.

The result puts human-robot collaboration at the center of a larger shift in warehouse automation. Instead of asking companies to choose between fully manual work and fully automated systems, the J1600 keeps the operator in control of the tasks that require judgment, while the robot takes over the repetitive transport in between. In practical terms, a worker can pick up a pallet manually, select a destination on the touchscreen, and send the pallet jack away to complete the delivery autonomously.

That distinction matters in a market where manual pallet handling still dominates. According to IFOY Innovation Check of the J1600, only about 1 percent of pallet handling is automated today, despite more than one million pallet jacks being sold globally each year. For the remaining 99 percent of the market, the immediate question is not whether a warehouse can become fully automated someday, but whether automation can be introduced without taking control away from the people who keep operations running.

"The industry has often treated automation as an all-or-nothing decision," said Emil Hauch Jensen, CEO of The Mobile Robot Company. "Our view from the beginning was different. We wanted to give warehouse operators back time, energy, and control, not ask companies to redesign the entire way they work."

The J1600 can be operated like a conventional electric pallet jack or switched into autonomous mode when the operator chooses. It is designed for floor-to-floor pallet transport in warehouses, production areas, goods receipt, storage, and shipping. The truck can carry up to 1,600 kg, uses 3D LiDAR SLAM technology for navigation, and allows operators to create new destinations by driving the unit to a location and pressing "Save Location" on the touchscreen.

Its simplicity was central to the IFOY evaluation. The robot requires no extensive IT integration, Wi-Fi is optional, and operator training can be completed in about 30 minutes. In repetitive transport workflows, the company says the system can reduce manual work by up to 80 percent by allowing employees to keep control of difficult pallet handling while leaving the travel route to the robot.

IFOY's Innovation Check described the J1600 as a "game changer" for low-threshold automation in intralogistics, highlighting the combination of industrial AI performance and intuitive operation. The jury was particularly impressed by the dual-mode concept, which gives users flexibility while lowering the barrier to adopting mobile automation.

In the Industrial Truck category, The Mobile Robot Company stood alongside some of the most established names in material handling, including STILL, part of KION Group, and Crown. Against companies with decades of market presence, global service networks, and deep engineering budgets, the Danish startup won by focusing on a problem many smaller and mid-sized warehouse operators still face: how to automate real, messy, changing workflows without turning the automation project itself into the main obstacle.

"This is first and foremost a startup story," said Jensen. "The largest players in this industry have global sales organizations, long histories, and enormous development resources. Our way in was to solve a problem customers still struggle with every day: how to bring automation into real warehouse and production environments without making the project heavy, expensive, and risky."

That approach shaped the product from the beginning. The J1600 does not require operators to become robot programmers. Teaching the robot a new task is designed to feel like performing the task once: drive the pallet jack to the destination, save the location, and use it for future autonomous runs. If something unexpected happens, the operator can take over manually. The human remains part of the loop, not as a backup to a failed system, but as the person with context, judgment, and authority.

The IFOY AWARD gives that design philosophy independent validation. The International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year Award is regarded as one of the world's leading technology awards in intralogistics. In 2026, 49 products and solutions were entered into the competition, with 17 finalists qualifying for the finals and undergoing the multi-stage IFOY Audit during TEST CAMP INTRALOGISTICS in April.

The IFOY Audit combines the IFOY Test, the scientific IFOY Innovation Check, and the jury evaluation. The Innovation Check is conducted by scientists from Fraunhofer IML, Fraunhofer IPA, Technical University of Munich, and TU Dresden, while the final winners are selected by an independent international jury of trade journalists. The 2026 winners were revealed live in Stuttgart in front of around 150 guests from industry, academia, politics, and the media.

For The Mobile Robot Company, the award comes after a rapid first chapter. The company was founded in November 2024 by Emil Hauch Jensen and Odin Kudahl Skovsted, launched the J1600 in January 2026, and has built distributor partnerships in eight countries. Its focus is on practical mobile robot solutions for internal material handling, particularly in operations where the cost, complexity, and rigidity of traditional automation have kept companies manual for too long.

"We have not tried to build the most advanced robot for the sake of technology," said Jensen. "We built a tool for companies that need automation now, but cannot wait for a two-year automation project. We come from Denmark, but we are building for a global problem."

About The Mobile Robot Company
The Mobile Robot Company ApS is a Danish robotics company developing mobile robot solutions for internal material handling in warehouse and production environments. The company was founded in November 2024 by Emil Hauch Jensen and Odin Kudahl Skovsted and launched its first product, the J1600 self-driving pallet jack, in January 2026. The Mobile Robot Company works with distributor partners in eight countries and is expanding its international partner network.

About the IFOY AWARD
The IFOY AWARD, International Intralogistics and Forklift Truck of the Year, recognizes outstanding products and solutions in intralogistics and material handling. Winners are selected annually by an independent international jury of trade journalists following a multi-stage audit process. The award is supported by the VDMA Materials Handling and Intralogistics Association and the VDMA Robotics + Automation Association.

Media contact

The Mobile Robot Company ApS
Emil Hauch Jensen, CEO
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +45 88 10 90 12

SOURCE: The Mobile Robot Company ApS

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

L.Zimmermann--NZN